Can you feel it spread?

[Sambhara]

Hey all,

So I think I have gout. I was tested once, but it was kind of long after a terrible attack and so the results were inconclusive. I think I have and want to see if thus sounds right... So I do drink a bit, maybe 12 drinks a week. I also go to the gym 4-5 times a week. If I stop going to the gym for about a week I'll get a tingle that starts in my knee. A day later there will be a slight pain in my shin, next day it's lower and more painful. Eventually my ankle will hurt and I'll be unable to walk. It will eventually, maybe hit my toe, not always though. Usually I'll do a lot of cardio thinking it will move blood about and basically filter the crystal out of my blood. Sounds crazy, I know; but does it sound lime gout? I don't know! I'm 26, I eat fairly well. I'm over weight, 225, and don't get much exercise past the 2 hours I'll spend in the gym 4-5 times a week. I don 't have insurence and don't know what to do... Basically all I'm really interested in is if this sounds like gout to you guys. I read everywhere that it starts in the big toe, mine seems to start high and move south...

[dagnabitboy]

I "had" gout for 12 years so I'm very familiar with it. To me it sounds like gout, but I'm not a doctor! It might be something else, so if it persists, see a doctor!! I've read that gout is rare before the age of 40, but you might be an exception. I would suggest to stop drinking for awhile and stop going to the gym for awhile too, to see if the attacks stop. If they do I'd suspect you are becoming dehydrated due to drinking or exercise, which can trigger a gout attack because your blood will have a lower water content, in other words it will be more concentrated. If you remember your high school chemistry, when you have a solution that is concentrated enough something will come out of solution. Remember those crystal making kits you can get? You super saturate some water with the right chemicals. when you stop stirring the chemicals come out of solution as crystals. Gout is the same. Uric acid will come out of solution (your blood) and form microscopic crystals that get pushed through the walls of the capillaries by blood pressure. that causes the pain and the swelling. The key is to stay hydrated. I do that by taking a couple of shakes of salt 2 or 3 times a day, let it soak into my tongue, the drink a glass of water. The salt helps your body retain water (That's why sport drinks have salt in them). That will dilute your blood, allowing it to re-absorb the uric acid crystals. The next time you think you are having an attack of gout, try the salt and water thing for several days. It should help it clear up much faster. When I feel an attack coming on, such as you do, I do the salt and water thing. Works every time!

Good luck!

[navajo]

Hello Sambhara,

I am 36 and have suffered gout since my twenties. The symptons you describe certainly do sound like gout. As far as starting in the big toe goes, although it does often, symptons of attacks occur to me in any given joint.
I can wake up with gouty pain in my right knee one day, and the following day it's in my left foot. It must just be wherever the crystals are manging to build up.
The only true way to find out for sure if you are suffering gout is to go to the doctor and get a blood test specifically for uric acid analysis, I did a couple of these back at the start of my symptons, the first test was inconclusive because I went at a time when I wasn't suffering gout pain. The second test occured during an extremely agonising bout which affected my knee to the point I could not stand up and the weight of my bedsheet was too much for my toe at night. The blood test showed extreme amounts of uric acid in the blood.

I don't use drugs to control my gout. I watch what I eat carefully and drink plenty of fluids (WATER) 3 - 4 Ltrs a day. This works for me (mostly). Alcohol seems to be the biggest trigger for me. Caffeine and fatty meals are also seemingly aggresive triggers. Certain types of hydroponics can also be a problem.

I sincerely hope what you are experiencing is not gout and rather an ailment that is easy to treat or that you can get rid of. My doctor told me that my overall health is important and since taking his advice and exercising regulary and eating well the number and severity of attacks has certainly decreased. It was definetely alot worse when my cholesterol was through the roof. My poor shape led me to a bout of gouty elecron bursitis where my left elbow swelled to the size of a small rockmelon immobilising my entire left arm. My bicep and tricep literally disappeared within a week and it took me over 9 months to regain strength in my arm.

[GoutyAlcoholic]

I am now 36 and I started experiencing GOUT when I was 23. It first started as nerve pain in my upper shoulder and neck. This was probably the crystals forming in this area and stabbing the nerve. Then years later my toe started to hurt then full blown attacks would begin in my life. I am an active person and I also spent most of my 20's drinking beer, red wine, scotch. I am now paying for it. But the one thing I am learnign about this deisease is that it is merciless. It will attack your weakest joint first. If it finds no weak joints then it will attack the coldest joints. I don't know why it does this, and it explains why you would usuall only have it one one leg or the other, but not usually both. It's ****ing MEAN. It's like they want to concentrate their forces and attack the weakest part of your body. I know it does this, because if after working out or training you slightly injure a joint such as a knee, ankle or even hand, when you drink or have some juicy steak, that part of your body is the first to get attacked.

So you should wath your drinking and watch your injuries. If you get injured even slightly, I would stay away from the drinking until your joint heals, or else you will get attacked!

If you don't have health insurance, you will just have to stay away from foods that **** you up, and eat the foods that will keep you healthy. As for your drinking, I am not one to give advice, but what I can say is that Japanese SAKE is the cleanest alcohol out there. I still drink it, and will not get a GOUT attack from the stuff. It gives you a good buzz and you don't feel bloated and sore the next day like with Beer or Wine and Scotch.


Hey all,

So I think I have gout. I was tested once, but it was kind of long after a terrible attack and so the results were inconclusive. I think I have and want to see if thus sounds right... So I do drink a bit, maybe 12 drinks a week. I also go to the gym 4-5 times a week. If I stop going to the gym for about a week I'll get a tingle that starts in my knee. A day later there will be a slight pain in my shin, next day it's lower and more painful. Eventually my ankle will hurt and I'll be unable to walk. It will eventually, maybe hit my toe, not always though. Usually I'll do a lot of cardio thinking it will move blood about and basically filter the crystal out of my blood. Sounds crazy, I know; but does it sound lime gout? I don't know! I'm 26, I eat fairly well. I'm over weight, 225, and don't get much exercise past the 2 hours I'll spend in the gym 4-5 times a week. I don 't have insurence and don't know what to do... Basically all I'm really interested in is if this sounds like gout to you guys. I read everywhere that it starts in the big toe, mine seems to start high and move south...

[JohnAnderson]

Hey all,

So I think I have gout. I was tested once, but it was kind of long after a terrible attack and so the results were inconclusive. I think I have and want to see if thus sounds right... So I do drink a bit, maybe 12 drinks a week. I also go to the gym 4-5 times a week. If I stop going to the gym for about a week I'll get a tingle that starts in my knee. A day later there will be a slight pain in my shin, next day it's lower and more painful. Eventually my ankle will hurt and I'll be unable to walk. It will eventually, maybe hit my toe, not always though. Usually I'll do a lot of cardio thinking it will move blood about and basically filter the crystal out of my blood. Sounds crazy, I know; but does it sound lime gout? I don't know! I'm 26, I eat fairly well. I'm over weight, 225, and don't get much exercise past the 2 hours I'll spend in the gym 4-5 times a week. I don 't have insurence and don't know what to do... Basically all I'm really interested in is if this sounds like gout to you guys. I read everywhere that it starts in the big toe, mine seems to start high and move south...

Unfortunately this doesn't sound like gout at all. Nearly 50% of the western population has hyperuricemia, but less than 1% develops gouty problems from this. Gout is a chemical reaction, and will always start in the most basic of high school chemistry classes. Lower temperature, (in the feet) slow moving solvent (in the feet), super saturated solution (in the feet) = formation of crystals in the feet. The "why" of crystal formation is almost a forgone conclusion. It's just not feasible for this condition to start in a warmer and more fluid environment. Gout is basic chemestry applied and if your condition isn't really concerned with these situations a different diagnosis, I.E. other than an internet one is required. See a doctor, or a specialist if necessary, but what you are describing is not acute gouty arthritis in any book.

I'm not a doctor by any means, but I say you should look into chrondomalacia. I don't proclaim to be right but the symptoms you describe are more neurological/orthopedic than gout related. Basically, when you have gout, the pain is so overbearing that you know for a fact you have gouty arthritis and where, exactly and to a pinpoint it is.


Whatever you have it isn't gout, and that's a fact. You see gout isn't even caused by uric acid or crystal formation, it's caused by the immunological response to such crystals. Trust me, if you had gout it would start lower and slower, and your knees and shins would become secondary as your entire foot and ankle was consumed by a flavor called pain.

I don't doubt that you do some have some sort of condition, but it probably isn't gouty related. Still, have it tested thought. I'm not a doctor, I just read a a whole hell of a lot.

[JohnAnderson]

I am now 36 and I started experiencing GOUT when I was 23. It first started as nerve pain in my upper shoulder and neck. This was probably the crystals forming in this area and stabbing the nerve. Then years later my toe started to hurt then full blown attacks would begin in my life. I am an active person and I also spent most of my 20's drinking beer, red wine, scotch. I am now paying for it. But the one thing I am learnign about this deisease is that it is merciless. It will attack your weakest joint first. If it finds no weak joints then it will attack the coldest joints. I don't know why it does this, and it explains why you would usuall only have it one one leg or the other, but not usually both. It's ****ing MEAN. It's like they want to concentrate their forces and attack the weakest part of your body. I know it does this, because if after working out or training you slightly injure a joint such as a knee, ankle or even hand, when you drink or have some juicy steak, that part of your body is the first to get attacked.

So you should wath your drinking and watch your injuries. If you get injured even slightly, I would stay away from the drinking until your joint heals, or else you will get attacked!

If you don't have health insurance, you will just have to stay away from foods that **** you up, and eat the foods that will keep you healthy. As for your drinking, I am not one to give advice, but what I can say is that Japanese SAKE is the cleanest alcohol out there. I still drink it, and will not get a GOUT attack from the stuff. It gives you a good buzz and you don't feel bloated and sore the next day like with Beer or Wine and Scotch.


While you were working out, did you by chance take weight gaining workout/protein supplements? People keep describing gout as if it has a brain. It's just chemestry, and can be avoided, ore it's biology which can be tricked, I just don't thin it's prudent to try to internet diagnose someone who may have similar symptoms, but no blood work or interpretation of blood gasses.

[GoutyAlcoholic]

Sambahara,

Something to think about. GOUT is so nasty, that it will attack the most vunerable joint in your body first. If all your joints are fine, then the defacto vunerable joint is your big toe. But in your case, because you are an active person, your GOUT will attack the most damaged joint, which in your case is your knees and ankles. I have first hand experience in this. I am also active, and had gout attacks that ignored my big toes, and it went straight to my ankle that had a minor sprain. **** that was painful. Then sometimes, I would jam a thumb during sports, then BANG, that was the first joint my GOUt decided to attack. sometimes it's my NECK, or even back. GOUT will look for any weakness and hit you where it hurts. Nice disease eh? Get a quick blood test to make sure you don't have GOUT, cuz you definately don't want it. If your Uric Acid levels are high this is the first indicator, but your Doctor can tell you for sure.

If you get GOUT, you must say good bye to all the delicious foods, and the best wines, beers, scotch and other fine liquors. It gets depressing when you find out you have gout and research the internet about it, and it tells you that basically your "fun" life is OVER. nice.

[chuninabun]

the problem with identifying gout for sure is that you actually have to get a needle stuck in the swollen sight, which to my surprise whenever i had an attack and rushed to the hospital they refused to stick it in that site telling me it would hurt too much o.0. RA can effect joints like that, Gout can effect joins like that, If you a Runner and you ran to much or are not properly stretched before an intense run, ur shins can start to hurt. There are many reasons that could be, a better test would be, watch out for your big toe or other small joints like ur fingers, any of those swells you can probably bet its some form of arthritis. Ive seen people with shin splints describing what you did tho. And yes, like someone said above about the protein shakes at the gym. Protein in general is meant as part of diet with healthy carbs and vegetables and fruit. NOT ALL PROTEIN DIETS, not only will they not help u loose weight but they WILL give you gout. The only reason i have gout at the age of 25 is because i partied alot as a teen and went on a ton of all protein diets. I had invasive surgeory and i used drugs. I basically did EVERY SINGLE THING on the list of gout causers, and i got it! HOORAY!

[chuninabun]

ps. Two hours in the gym is more then enough, the only way to loose weight is to eat right. In fact after about an hour and 20 minutes your workout starts to have little benefit. I got gout when i was like 18 man, if you just got it now, you can treat it and rid yourself of it quick or at least make it better. Don't stop exercising, that always helps joint flexibility, just avoid exercise when your joints swell up. Change your diet and your lifestyle now while it is in the begging stages, even if you do not have gout a change in lifestyle will probably help whatever is ailing you. oh and Western medicine is in the practice of putting on band-aids and when u remove them (meaning pills) you will still have your same troubles and then some others from side effects. Holistic and traditional medicine takes longer and you won't feel pain relief instantly, however in the long run it aids your own body functions in getting you better. I think its better when i get myself healthy so my own body can take care of problems now and in the future then popping an allopurinol and possibly waiting for liver failure, besides if i had to remove the band aid id be screwed! ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE GOUT OR JOINT PAIN, look into healing ur entire body, conditions like this usually do not stem from just uric acid alone.

[chuninabun]

semi true, i went threw basic training in the army with gout. Back then we didn't know it was gout just thought it was a minor sprain that never healed and kept comming back. I had bad pain and had to limp on it, BUT I STILL MADE IT THROUGH ARMY BASIC TRAINING, i even did 15 mile ruck march (thats where u wear all your gear and march, about 150 lbs on your back). It doesn't always start up in super pain mode, when it does tho u will be sure it is gout and you may be crying to the morphine goddess to ease your suffering. However at the early stages, i had almost exactly what you did. Keep an eye on it.